Tenji Ichiban!

This restaurant was huge, and was told that the restaurant occupies around 30,000 sq feet including al fresco dining area which I find would be perfect at night. Nah... too warm for me during the day. I enquired beforehand at the reception and the friendly lady told me that I am welcomed to take pictures of the buffet spread. With over 200 dishes, I quickly went round snapping photos randomly. Are you ready to drool???

I have lost count on the number of sweet coconut drink I had. Yes, they are free flow and you can have as many as you want. They also have other cold drinks such as fruit juices and iced lemon tea.

For those who prefer something warm, there are quite extensive choices of floral tea to choose from; calendula, lavender, rosebuds, blueberry, forest berries and etc.

My Makan Gang is extremely crazy of oysters. Imagine our excitement when the sight of the big fat juicy fresh oysters lying on the bed of ice welcomes us the moment we stepped into the dining area. I will talk more on the oysters later.

The sashimi selection was pretty good too. We were very happy with the thick and chunky cuts of the salmon, swordfish and tuna.

Octopus sashimi... I don't fancy this rubbery creature but somehow the tentacles look so gorgeous.

I went to google for the name of this clam and found out that it is called Hokkigai.

I have never tried having scallop raw before and I find it pretty good.

I love sushi but when it comes to buffet, this is something that I would skip as they can fill up my tummy pretty fast. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of them so here goes:

Apart from the variety of cooked food at the buffet table, there are many hot dishes available upon request. Each table was given 2 clips with your table number on it. For example, if you want grilled salmon head, all you need to do is to put your clip into the little bowl with the 'salmon head' tag and they will cook it and bring it over to you. Those who have been to Jogoya would know what I mean.

Hot udon or cold soba? I didn't try either of them cos I was saving my stomach space for sashimi.

Seafood and meat for teppanyaki... again, this is where you will need your pin to place your order.

Hot food corner was pretty impressive too. We loved the Clams in Superior Stock. The broth was rich with the clam essence. I ended up scooping the broth instead of the clams.

Japanese snail...had to eat cos no cutlery was provided to dig the flesh out.

Crabs!!!! How could I resist? I took a piece of the mud crab cooked in marmite sauce. Erm... just took a bite and decided not worth my effort dirtying my hand since the oysters were shouting for my name.

There is a western corner too but it failed to ignite my interest. The early batch gets to savour the juicy roasted lamb roll. Mint sauce that goes with the lamb was good. Once the roll was gone, it was replenished with seafood pizza. So please be early!

Desserts, oh... glorious dessert. Those with sweet tooth will be so delighted with their variety of desserts. Impossible for me to sample each and every of the mousse and puddings and tiramisu they have...sigh.

Mochis... so many flavours, spoilt with choices.

Cakes and pastry...we were seated right in front of this glass display. Everything looks so good but I didn't get to try any cos I was so stuffed.

They serve Haagen-Dazs ice-cream and I was so lucky cos all my favourite flavour was available; Macadamia Nuts, Green tea and Strawberry Cheesecake!

Dip dip dip... the bread stick and fruits for the chocolate fountain.

Now, let's talk about the food. My first plate of sashimi… oishi, oishi… I simply love the chunky cut of the sashimi. Satisfying!

This was the first piece of oyster I had. It was huge! Palm-sized to be exact.

Another photo taken before I glide it down my throat. Ooo... so sweet and smooth.

Just when I thought the one I had was huge, my friend took one even bigger. He placed it next to a spoon as comparison. Not that I am complaining, but I find the size was TOO big. Usually I could easily take one dozen oysters at one go but after my 3rd gigantic piece of oyster, I couldn't bring myself to swallow anymore of it. One my of Makan Gang member had 10 pieces!!! Salute salute…

Prawn sashimi was also my first try. Sweet and it has a slight bounciness to it. Tasted very rich too. Even though it was tiny, I stopped at my 2nd piece.

Makan Gang was searching high and low for Miso soup. Funny...they don't serve Miso soup. There are creamy seafood soups at the western corner but it was the double boiled Chinese soup that caught my interest. Three types were available: Herbal soup, Ginseng soup and Cordyceps soup. The Cordyceps Soup tasted really good. I am still having a bit of cough and sore throat and the soup was really soothing so I ended up having two helpings.

Ayu fish...never heard of this before but Makan Gang said it tasted bland. Not my choice of food so I didn't even bother to try.

From the grilled corner, I took a piece of grilled corn, shisamo and deep fried soft shell crab. All were yummy!!!

For dessert, I only had these. Sad right? So many varieties of desserts but my tummy was telling me "STOP STOP STOP!!!”

The black sesame mochi was not too bad, do try. Skip the honeydew pudding though.

We initially planned to stay for the whole session but before our 2nd hour ended, we were already stuffed.

Well really have a great time with the Makan Gang! You guys rock my sock off! :D